Search results for

The Bush administration files a friend-of-the-court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the University of Michigan's affirmative action program. Three white students allege the university uses a quota system that unfairly benefits minority applicants. NPR's Libby Lewis reports.

Many species of shark are in decline, a development some researchers have been slow to note. The shark plays a pivotal role in the health of all marine life, and some fear the population dip could throw the underwater ecosystem out of balance. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

DuPont and other multinational corporations announce the launch of the Chicago Climate Exchange. The effort is the first major attempt at establishing a market for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. NPR's David Schaper reports.

NPR's Michele Norris talks with Kathryn Blume, co-founder of The Lysistrata Project, a coordinated schedule of world-wide readings of the play Lysistrata on March 3, 2003. The ancient Greek play tells the story of a woman who organizes a stand against war, getting women on both sides of a conflict to withhold sex from their husbands until the men agree to sign a peace treaty. She hopes the readings will mobilize an international theatrical voice against the Bush administration's war on Iraq.

The Catholic church's National Review Board -- a lay group appointed to investigate the priest sex-abuse scandals -- meets with church leaders in New York. But Cardinal Edward Egan will not take part in the talks, arousing critics. NPR's Nancy Solomon reports.

Media reports have highlighted a potential danger for children who carry overstuffed backpacks around, citing a rash of back injuries. One study shows a greater danger from tripping over the cumbersome carry-alls. But there's more to the story. NPR's Rachel Jones reports.

The military gives small doses of amphetamines to fighter pilots who must endure long flights without sleep. The policy is based on research by the Air Force and Columbia University that shows small doses improve performance. But the use of the drugs has been called into question at a hearing for two pilots who mistakenly bombed Canadian forces in Afghanistan. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.

Commentator Ruben Navarrette says he and his father, a veteran police officer, support the death penalty for the same reasons they support an Illinois decision to commute the sentences of death row inmates: so that the innocent have nothing to fear.

Health care workers in Connecticut are set to be the first U.S. civilians to receive smallpox vaccinations. It's the first step in a new federal program aimed at protecting Americans against a biological attack. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

NPR's David Molpus talks with members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary. He hears how they're preparing themselves for the possibility of war with Iraq, how spouses at home are explaining their absence to toddlers, and how one couple has made up a personal code for private e-mail messages.